


Be Careful Young Wolf Whose Footsteps You Follow

by Dances_In_Ashes



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 09:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12340380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dances_In_Ashes/pseuds/Dances_In_Ashes
Summary: Venturing outside of the safety of Storybrooke in search of 'other' people, Ruby finds herself in National City.  And she seems to find herself drawn to a certain ostracized Kryptonian, who might just end up being her silver bullet in this brave new world.





	Be Careful Young Wolf Whose Footsteps You Follow

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to the ever-lovely chasing_the_wild_dream! She had this idea, and it inspired me..... so here we are. Check out her work and leave her lots of kind words, she deserves all of it! <3

National City.

It spread out in front of her, daunting in it's cacophony of sounds and smells and the reflection of fading sunlight off so many high rises. Horns were honking and people were shouting, but there was also a stillness to it from so far away. A pristine urban kingdom, looking like one of the photographs from her travel magazines -a sprawling city sitting lonely against the larger encompassing wilderness around it. 

She breathed deep: this was her second chance. 

Because, surely, if this place had aliens living here like she'd heard, then someone like her would fit in easily. Much easier than the little one-stoplight town she'd grown up in. Not that she had hated it, per se, but being a werewolf in such a quaint place where everyone was in each other's business had been less than savory. Plus, she had always wanted to see the world...

Adjusting the backpack on her shoulder, she continued her trek onward.

True, she'd made many friends back home, and was sad to have left, but when Emma had shown up and suddenly everyone was an actual fairytale character (and she turned into a wolf each full moon!), the quietness of the town had turned into... well, a chaotic whirlwind with too much happening in too small of a space. Ruby could barely breathe with everything happening. 

So, she'd bid farewell to her friends, promising to keep in touch, and 'Yes, Granny, I'll visit often,' and set her sights on the home of Supergirl. Who, she'd chuckled and elbowed Emma over a farewell drink, seemed to have quite a bit in common with Storybrooke's own resident savior. (Up to and including her certain.... disposition... towards a certain not-so-villainous brunette in power). 

Emma had grumped something, but otherwise took the jab with a playful roll of the eyes. 

Cars blew past her on the road leading into the city, and the rumble in the ground of the vehicles as they passed was a pleasing, rhythmic sensation as she neared the city limit sign. Which, of course, she took a selfie pic with and then proceeded to spam her entire contact list, adding the caption 'I'VE ARRIVED!!!!!!'

She answered the enthusiastic messages back of 'Congratulations!' to 'New home sweet home :)' and 'Be Safe' (Mary Mar- Snow White) among others. Ruby grinned like an idiot, unable to contain herself. The joy bubbling inside of her was near to bursting, and nothing could dampen her mood at this point. 

She'd purposely set out from Storybrooke right after Wolf's time, catching buses and Ubers and walking. It had been a long trek, but one fully embraced. And her onset of Wolf's time was only a day or two away. Enough to settle, then promptly escape back to the wilderness.

New territory to mark and explore, all her own.

Once the bustle of traffic became much more and the city began to rise around her, she requested an Uber to her hotel and waited with her earbuds in, heart thumping. And while the ride itself was lackluster, the sights were astounding. 

She'd never seen such towering feats of steel and glass, so many people in one place. The sights and sounds whirled around her, boisterous and invigorating. And all too soon the ride came to an end, pulling up in front of the small, sad hotel she'd booked. 

It was well used and dilapidated, but even the wear couldn't dissuade her mood. She took the key card from the desk attendant and sauntered off in search of her room. Left from the lobby, a right at the intersecting hallway, and all the way down the hall across from the emergency exit. 

The plastic chirped as she slid it home, green-lighting her into a small room. There was a tiny bathroom off to the left, and then a bed on the right. Opposite the bed was a little desk with a yellowed lamp. The curtains were drawn, but immediately she flung them to the side. 

It was no grand view: just a window to the parking lot and the backside of a restaurant, but she grinned wider and tossed her bag on the desk. 

Big city life!

\---------

Dirt sprayed into the air as the blasts from the alien's weapon missed, throwing up sand and rocks, leaving Alex spitting the grit from her mouth and wiping at a dribble of blood where a rock had nicked her cheek. She'd had closer near misses, but the way the ground had jumped under her feet at the impact of energy had rattled up into her thighs, making her knees weak for a heartbeat. 

She saw Supergirl from the corner of her vision, using the distraction Alex had provided as a means to fly full-throttle into the behemoth, knocking him back a few steps. And then over Kara's shoulder, heat vision shot into him, straight in the chest. 

He bellowed, swiping at the onslaught like it was nothing more than a pesky fly.

"God, these things are hard to put down..." she grumbled, pointing her favored gun back in his general direction. 

"Now, Little One!"

She saw Astra cut the heat vision, and Kara threw an uppercut the likes of which could have knocked Superman unconscious. As he reared back from the force, Alex took the shot: one smooth pull of the trigger, one tranquilizer bullet buried in the soft tissue between the folds of thick hide covering his chest.

He dropped, unconscious.

"Nice shot," Supergirl touched down next to her, grinning. Alex wrinkled her nose. 

"Getting a fair amount of practice these days..."

Kara chuckled, gaze going to her aunt. "Thanks for the tip, we've been coming at these guys all wrong... last one took us..." She squinted, "Like, almost fifteen minutes to subdue. Who knew they had an off switch?"

Astra touched down close to the fallen alien and canted her head slightly in that confused way she had. " It's a nerve cluster, severing it causes-"

"Thank you, Astra." Alex cut her off, holstered the gun, and radioed J'onn to have him picked up; they'd wait around until then. They had all sat through the tedious and overly long lecture on the Dicera's biology via Astra. Who apparently would make an amazing professor -she put many of her college professors to shame on how long she could drone on and put her to sleep. Why did it matter that they knew what they ate? How they reproduced? Their lifecycle??? 

There were two questions, and it should have taken ten seconds.... how do we take one down? Barring that, how do you kill one?

"You are welcome, Alexandra." Alex rolled her eyes -of course she was still missing the sarcasm, but also her using her full name always grated on her nerves. "I will head back to the DEO now that the situation is under control, I need to finish my probation paperwork and have J'onn give me my final review."

Nodding, Alex glanced at Kara, because she knew her sister's aunt leaving was still hanging heavily on her. But of course the embodiment of sunshine itself was grinning like it was the most exciting thing in the world. It wasn't even like they'd be out of touch -Astra was staying in National City, but she would only be a part of DEO activities as an on-call sort of thing. Still, to Kara it was like having a limb taken off.

"Alright, but don't leave before I get to say goodbye!" She gave that winning grin, giving Astra a hug, and watched as her aunt left for the DEO headquarters.

\-------

"This is the last paper you have to sign," the agent across the table informed, pushing the sheet towards her. 

It was a piece of paper... chewed up tree pulp formed into thin sheets... but to Astra, it was FREEDOM.

She had completed her year-long probation. After giving over every once of information she knew about the Fort Rozz escapees, Myriad, Non, and a million other things, she had been outfitted to help Supergirl and monitored in her off time by a very patience-lowering DEO agent. She'd assimilated into human society: held down a job (kennel work was terrible pay, but she thrived on it), put herself into school to learn all she could of Earth's biome, rented a small apartment.

At the end, J'zonn had deemed her fit for full release. No more monitors or checkups or psych evals. Just... getting to live her life again. 

And, this time, with her darling Kara in it.

She signed her name -in Kryptonian, as a slight show of defiance- and set the pen to the side, letting out a breath like she'd been holding it this whole past year.

"Thank you, General. We are done here, you are free to leave at your leisure."

And, like that, Astra was free. She was a person again. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, and her head spun. How very peculiar for someone who'd lived her life disciplined.

She wanted to fly far, far away. To see things outside National City, those things she'd only seen in pictures. Wanted to know what other locales had to offer: all those brilliant lights and monuments the humans had built, the beautiful landscapes... the odd alien fauna. 

But instead she waited in the lobby for Kara and Alex to return from downstairs, where they were securing the Dicera in one of the holding cells. 

"Aunt Astra!!!"

She turned slightly towards where her niece's voice was coming from, and saw the blonde jogging excitedly towards her, Alex pulling up the rear with what could only be described as an irritated stomp.

"We've decided to take you out in celebration of your official release."

Glancing between the two sisters, Astra ascertained it wasn't a 'we' that had decided this but rather a 'Kara who had made puppy eyes at Alex' decision.

"And what kind of celebration did you have in mind, Little One?'


End file.
